Jefferson County Board of Education asks federal judge to decide Gardendale school split

The Gardendale Board of Education and other school officials officially opened the Central Office with a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. (Sarah A. McCarty/ smccarty@al.com)

The Jefferson County Board of Education has asked a federal judge to decide the fate of Gardendale's proposal to form a new school system.

The county board, in a filing late last week, told U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Haikala that its ability to live up to a 50-year-old desegregation order could be hurt if Gardendale splinters off without first paying millions of dollars so new schools could be built for displaced county students.

The Gardendale Board of Education on Friday also asked Judge Haikala that it be allowed to intervene and be put under the rules of the school desegregation order issued in the 1965 case of Stout v Jefferson County.

"Gardendale has intervened as a necessary step to our opening in the fall. Our new district will have no effect on desegregation," said Giles Perkins, an attorney who also represents Gardendale's school board. "The county board's effort to drag other issues into federal court flies in the face of Alabama law and the state superintendent's final orders."

During negotiations for the split Jefferson County's board asked that Gardendale Board of Education pay nearly $33.2 million so the county could build replacement facilities for students who attend schools in that city now but live outside the city limits. The Gardendale Board declined but proposed a 12-year transitional attendance plan to allow all students now attending schools in Gardendale to continue through graduation.

State School Superintendent Tommy Bice recently ruled Gardendale could move forward with starting its school system in the fall without any compensation other than payments on existing capital debt at several schools. He also ordered the two systems to continue negotiations on issues, including payment, and meet with him March 31 to report their progress.

In his order Bice also said the federal court had the authority to review or change his decision.

Jefferson County on Thursday filed its motion asking Judge Haikala to step into the fray.

"Though not the centerpiece of its position before the State Superintendent (Bice), the Jefferson County Board's arguments were based in part on concerns relating to the adverse impact of Gardendale's formation on desegregation in the County system," according to Jefferson County's filing.

The county argues that under the Stout desegregation decree city school systems may be permitted to operate "only if they can do so without adversely affecting the county system's ability to provide equivalent facilities and educational opportunities to its students, and to thereby meet its desegregation obligations to those students."

Gardendale on Friday asked to intervene in the Stout case so it would fall under the desegregation orders in the Stout case. Other city school systems that have split off in the past also fall under the desegregation order.

"The motion to intervene asks the court to determine whether the operation of a Gardendale School System will have any adverse impact on desegregation," according to a statement from Donald B. Sweeney, Jr., attorney for the Gardendale system.

"After federal Judge Madeline Haikala rules on Gardendale's motion to intervene, Gardendale will undertake the responsibility to present information to show that there will be no adverse impact on desegregation," Sweeney stated. "At every stage of the planning by the Gardendale City Board, it has been mindful of this important responsibility. Gardendale hopes that this will be an accelerated process and determination. But there are lots of issues to be addressed, and Judge Haikala has indicated to the parties in the Stout case how careful her review will be."

Jefferson County argues in its federal court motion that "the loss of Gardendale without constructing a replacement facility to serve the north central part of the county district would result in the students who are displaced by the system formation - a significant portion of the student populations of Bragg Middle and Gardendale High Schools - being reassigned elsewhere."

"Gardendale has suggested that some students - in particular, those living on the northern side of the Gardendale zone, and who are overwhelmingly Caucasian - who would otherwise have attended Gardendale High School could simply be reassigned to attend other schools such as Corner or Mortimer Jordan. However, both of those schools are considerably farther from the current Gardendale attendance zone than is Gardendale High School, and both have predominantly Caucasian student populations," the county board states.

"The situation is even less palatable for students on the southern end of the current Gardendale zone," the county argues. "That area includes most of the African-American students in the Gardendale zone who live outside the City of Gardendale."

For those students the choice would be a longer travel time to Corner or Mortimer Jordan or reassignment to either Minor or Fultondale High Schools, the county board states.

While Minor is an adequate school it was built more than 25 years ago and is not comparable to the campuses in Gardendale, Center Point, Hueytown, and other high schools constructed with hundreds of millions of dollars in a county bond issue over the past decade, the county argues. "Moreover, the student body is comprised almost entirely of African-American students. Fultondale High School is not even marginally comparable to Gardendale High School in terms of the age, condition, and size of its physical plant," the county board state.

"Moreover, it harkens back to the former dual system, having at one time operated as a de jure all black school - New Castle School. In this context, reassigning African-American students from - and for whom - a deluxe educational facility was built and judicially sanctioned to Fultondale High School sends an unacceptable message that could impede progress toward attaining unitary status," the county board states.

The county also argues that courts have denied city school systems the right to splinter from parent systems even in the face of educational failures or breakdowns in political accountability between city residents and county school boards.

While Gardendale officials have used "local control" as "mantra" in justifying the split, the county argues that "no bona fide complaint has been made regarding the quality of the educational services or facilities that have been provided by the County Board to Gardendale residents."

No community in Jefferson County has had a stronger voice in the administration and operation of Jefferson County Schools than Gardendale, the county states.

"Gardendale has supplied a number of members to the County Board, and several of those board members have also served as or have had close family ties with Gardendale city leaders," according to the county's filing. "Indeed, the City of Gardendale has been home to a plethora of the area's public officials, judges, religious, civic, and business leaders for many years, and many of the County system's best teachers and administrators have lived in Gardendale and served in Gardendale schools."

"The loss of that substantial base of leadership, support, and influence militates even more strongly against leaving disenfranchised county students to fend for themselves," the county states in its motion to Judge Haikala.